In this week’s Newsletter we look at 7 Principles from David Ogilvy – the Father of modern advertising – and we adapt them to doll clothes selling!

Here is the full text as a blog post:

The father of modern advertising is a guy named David Ogilvy. He wrote the book on the topic. He was the ad man for Rolls Royce, Dove soap, and many other iconic brands. He created Ogilvy & Mather an enormously successful advertising agency. He was brilliant at getting products launched, sold widely, and installed as the #1 brand in their category.

Could He Do It For You?

If Ogilvy were hired to be the ad man for your small business (we’ll assume you sell doll clothes) what would he say to you?

Here are a few quotes and actionable principles that we think you might hear him say. We’ve modified his original comments slightly to fit our topic, but other than that – these are his original sentiments.

In the modern world of doll clothes selling, it is useless to be creative unless you can also sell what you create.”

Principle #1 – Focus On Sales
David was laser-beam focused on the sales process and believed strongly in the power of advertising to make sales happen.

If it doesn’t sell – it isn’t creative.”

Principle #2 – Sales Equals Success
Lots of people can make creative products and advertisements, but if the sales results aren’t there, then the product is a dud.

There isn’t any significant difference between the various brands of …cake mixes, whiskey, detergents, or doll clothes… The doll clothes maker who dedicates her advertising to building the most sharply defined personality for her brand will get the largest share of the market at the highest profit.”

Principle #3 – Stand Out
The strongest brand wins. Spend your time and energy creating a powerful brand concept and constantly do things to reinforce it.

David Ogilvy – The Father of Advertising

Advertising is only evil when it advertises evil things.”

Principle #4 – Don’t Despise Advertising
Ogilvy didn’t consider advertising as an art or entertainment. He considered it a method of sharing information. If your product is good – people will appreciate hearing about it. You should never be shy or ashamed of boldly proclaiming the truth about your work.

The more informative your doll clothing listing,

the more persuasive it will be.”

Principle #5 – Include Details
You’d be surprised how many doll clothes sellers fail to list even the most basic facts about their items, let alone the nuances. Do you include all the relevant facts about your doll clothes in your listing – a money back guarantee, a biography about yourself, an FAQ, details about how to find and follow you on social media, etc?

If you ever have the good fortune to design a great doll outfit, you will soon see another person steal it. This is irritating, but don’t let it worry you; nobody has ever built a brand by imitating somebody else’s work.”

Principle #6 – You’ll Be Copied
Don’t focus on your copiers; focus on the unfinished projects that you know will blow your customer’s minds. If you’re good people will copy – it’s unavoidable.

You have to decide what ‘image’ you want for your doll clothes brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the market place.”

Principle #7 – Build Your Brand
Work to ensure that every sales event you create, every ad, every website, or blog post adds distinct and memorable element to your overall brand.

Doing It Yourself

David Ogilvy joined the ranks of the dearly departed in 1999, so you’re on your own when it comes to creating powerful advertising. But if you stick to these seven principles – you’ll be well on your way to nailing it. You can do it!

Do You Have A Question?
This newsletter is written for you! So feel free to submit a question today. Submit it here. We are honored to partner with you!

Hey all, if you aren’t aware, we think Jeff Walker is the “real deal”. He created the “Product Launch” strategy and has a lot of wisdom.

In this video you can listen to what he says about email marketing – he calls it the #1 Rule For Building Your Online Business – and we totally agree. In this helpful video he also talks about the 2nd step in email marketing – how to build a good relationship with your followers.

We hope you enjoy this video – and remember, our Email Marketing Power ebook is just .99 cents! At that price you really can’t go wrong!

Most salespeople will tell you that one of the most difficult parts of the sales process is getting past people’s initial defenses.

We all have a powerful force field we can project quickly that shields us from unwanted sales attempts. It’s an interesting psychological super power we all develop.

Of course some customers immediately want what we have – and they know, like, and trust us, so selling to them is easy. But other people aren’t interested and are much harder to work with. How do you get them to consider your offer?

The Old-School Marketers’ Trick

Turns out marketers have been trying to solve this problem for a long-time. One easy (and ethical) technique they’ve discovered is the “engagement device”.

It is a device that gets prospects to engage with you or your offer. If done well it allows the prospect to learn about your product without getting defensive.

You can’t (and shouldn’t try to) sell stuff to people who don’t want it. But you can (and should) allow people to know about your product or service so they can decide if it’s right for them.

The Best Engagement Devices

There are a few engagement devices that work incredibly well because they not only get you into a conversation with the prospect; they also give you further insight into your prospects opinions, attitudes, and interests. It’s a win-win. When you know people’s opinion you can refine your product or service for them.

Let’s look at three examples of the best engagement tools and how to apply them to your situation.

#1 Online Polls – Doing an online poll as part of the sales process is an easy and fun engagement device. You can use www.polldaddy.com for free and you don’t even need a website to use it.

If you read my special email last week, or visited https://makesellgrow.com you probably noticed I’m using several polls to collect people’s opinion about my newest ebook. I asked people to help me decide on the cover color, title and sub-title. Here is what one of the polls looked like:

I did this because 1.) I really needed the help to decide on the final choices 2.) I wondered what would be the most appealing to most people. 3.) I wanted a way to discuss my new book project in a way that was engaging.

#2 Comment Contests – You’ll also notice that I added a comment contest to the article with the polls. This had the extra benefit of getting people to share their opinion in writing and also explain their thinking in a more in-depth way. Offering a fun reward is also a nice way to boost participation.

#3 Surveys – Doing a survey of your existing or prospective customers gets them involved in the process in a fantastic way. You can use a site like www.surveymonkey.com for free.

How To Use These Methods

So at this point you might be thinking – I sell doll clothes on Etsy, how am I supposed to use engagement devices to help sell my items? The short answer is – use the engagement devices wherever you are communicating with prospects and customers.

Social media: Facebook is another great way to use engagement devices. Of course we’ve always loved Youtube for contests. You could say a design contest is a form of a comment contest – and it is certainly an engagement device.

Blog: You can also use these types of tools on your blog. Don’t have one? Consider using Wix.com, Weebly.com, or WordPress.com – all of them are free – and for some reason they all start with the letter “W”. I’m not sure why.

Bottomline – get people to join you in a conversation about your product today with engagement devices.

Do You Have A Question?

This newsletter is written for you! So feel free to submit a question today. Submit it here. We are honored to partner with you!

[Update – Contest Ended – Thanks for participating everyone! The winner was chosen on the 5th – Congrats to Lori B from Indiana she has been contacted and the books have been sent. The new book will be out in June – stay tune for more info about it – and thanks again.]

Hi everyone,

So I’ve got a new ebook ready to publish, but I don’t know what the title should be. I am hoping you can help me decide by participating in my 3 polls, (one poll about the title, one about the sub-title, and one about the color of the cover).

About The ebook: The ebook is all about increasing your income! It is filled with advice and recommendations about salary negotiation, strategies for getting promoted, and ultimately, how to create a small business revenue that can liberate you from the 9-5 world. Some of you may know that I started my 9-5 career as a compensation Analyst, then HR Generalist, then ultimately SVP in charge of HR (and Marketing). So I have lots of stories, tips, facts, and suggestions about how to optimize your most important asset – your income potential.

Okay, here is how I need your help…

Poll #1 – The Title, (Leave a comment on this post if you have a suggestion).

Poll #3 – The Cover Color, (again, leave a comment on the post if you have a suggestion).

Which Cover Color Do You Like MostBonus Comment Contest: [ENDED] Thank you all for helping me figure this out – I truly appreciate it. And, as a special bonus – if you leave a comment below – you’ll be automatically entered to win a fun book bundle from me. (No purchase necessary, void where prohibited). The winner will be chosen on Monday May 5th. They will be sent the following awesome prize:

In this week’s newsletter we answer an interesting question – what if a super genius was going to do the sales and marketing for your online business? What if they were trying to sell doll clothes or other crafts online? What would they do and how can we learn from them?

In this week’s newsletter we offer a special invitation to join us in the pattern making business – it won’t be for everyone – but if you’ve ever wanted to publish patterns as an additional source of income -this newsletter is for you.

We hope you enjoy the article! Tell us what you think about it by leaving a comment below.